First Weekend in Beijing

I arrived in China Friday at midnight. Customs was very easy, which surprised me. I was sick coming here, and the customs forms sounded like they were going to do a full physical.

This is the first time I’ve had someone with a sign waiting for me. The driver picked me up, and he spoke no English at all. I used about all the Chinese I could come up with at midnight after 16 hours of flying, which was basic introductions and where I wanted to go. Checked into the hotel, which is quite nice. Free internet!

The next day I decided to go exploring. I asked the concierge how to take the subway to Tianamen Square. He gave me rough directions as to where it was. On my way there, I walked by a hair salon and decided to buy some hair stuff I’d forgotten. I asked how much this hair gunk was. The woman told me a price that was $25 US. In China, you bargain for EVERYTHING. You should end up paying 10% of what they tell you, generally. I forgot this, and forgot math, so I accepted the first price. It wasn’t until walking down the street that I realized how badly I got ripped off.
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I wanted to buy a SIM for my phone, so I asked directions to the nearest place to buy a SIM. I walked over, purchasing a pre-paid SIM card. It was pretty hard as my Chinese is really bad, and it took me a while to realize you have to buy the SIM, THEN buy something to charge it with.

Speaking of which, if you’d like to call me, my cell in China is: 0118613261711349. Of course, I’m on email and that will be the easiest way to contact me by far.

After buying a SIM card for my phone I was off to the subway station. I followed the directions but I ended up coming to what looked like the wrong way. There were railroad tracks crossing the road, and fences to prevent you from going on them. However, there were dozens of people climbing the fence and crossing the railroad tracks. I asked a couple people where the subway station was, and they pointed n the tracks, so I decided to join all these people and scale the fence. It turned out to be the correct way to get to the subway station. Apparently the American Disability Act hasn’t inspired any similar accessibility legislation around here :).

After getting my ticket and figuring out how to get there, I hopped on the subway. Apparently, little kids often have holes in their pants so they can easily go to the bathroom wherever they may need to. I won’t provide further details.

At the transfer station, I was looking around for the train I wanted, figured it out, then started waiting. Two Chinese guys were arguing over some sign on the wall, and as I wandered over, one of them turned to me and switch from Chinese to a New Zealander accent in English and said “G’day mate”. Turns out he was from New Zealand. We started chatting, and he was studying here with the other guy he was with at the university. The other guy was American. They were off to the Silk Market to buy clothes. I thought what the hell, I’ll tag along.

It was unbelievable this market was 4 stories tall, and FULL of knockoff goods. The Chinese are so good at counterfeiting, it’s incredible. My first experience bargaining there, I saw some nice Diesel shoes. I asked how much. She told me $100 (US). The two guys I was with told me never pay more than $7 for shoes. I really couldn’t believe it, as they were real leather, and looked completely real. Bargaining ensued, and I ended up paying $8 after walking away and her grabbing my arm and being drug half way across the store before she relented and gave me my price.

I was shocked by the fact that here was a permanent building, a permanent shopping mall, selling illegal goods. I had wondered why the police don’t ever come. When shopping the 4th floor in the watches section, I quickly saw why. Everyone started whispering in a hurried manner, and all sorts of goods were being stowed away, as the police ended up “raiding” the place, which consisted of them walking by and inspecting stands. I was curious and asked for a Rolex right about then, and everyone frowned at me and said no they didn’t carry them.

Everything you buy looks so real, it’s incredible. There are subtle differences (and sometimes not so subtle). After having worn my Diesel shoes, they feel like those Aquasox shoes we wore as kids in lakes. They have done an exact imitation, but the sole is just a very solid, uncomfortable, rubber. AmyG (the Nike shoe engineer), you might want to buy some of these fake Nike shoes while over here and dissect them.

After shopping, we wandered over to Tianamen Square. Gigantic doesn’t begin to describe it. It’s the largest square in the world, at the north side it faces the Forbidden City. The entrance to the Forbidden city has a HUGE oil painting of Mao hanging over it. The closer you get the more amazed you are by the size of it.

We watched the lowering of the flag, which had a huge number of people out for the ceremony. Troops marched from the Forbidden City, took it down, and marched back in. You can see me here joining the troops with my New Zealander friend.
Jess (my brother) came into town today!! I’m excited as it’s been a long while since I’ve seen him. For the readers who don’t know, he’s in the Peace Corps stationed in western Mongolia. He’s a long, long ways away from home, and is living in a ger (tent, kinda like a yurt). He was looking to get away to warmer climes (he frequently experiences weather at -20 C and colder out there.

So I took a cab out to pick him up from the airport. Our mom was shocked that we didn’t plan a place to meet at all, I only had his flight info. If I didn’t get there as he came out of the gate, I figured he’d await me in the Starbucks, which is the first thing you see upon arriving in Beijing leaving customs (really).

We dropped off his stuff and decided to wander. We went south of Tianamen and took a bike ride through a bunch of hutongs, traditional communal housing in which a courtyard is in the middle of several families. Often times they will share some facilities amongst all the families (such as the kitchen).

We went up and saw Tianamen again, got more pictures. Jess and I decided to go have some very delicious Peking duck. A restaurant that was recommended to us by our guide book had the word “Roast” misspelled on the sign in English, but there were no white people in the restaurant so we decided it must be good. We had a delicious meal, buying a whole duck and drinking it down with beers. Food in China is very cheap, our whole meal was only $10.

We came back and I was still jet lagged at this point, so we crashed.